Kid's and Fishing Go Together!

So far this month,June has not disappointed the sportsmen here in the Grand lake area. There have been some really good runs of fish in the local rivers and streams. There are reports of bright fish arriving on the Miramichi River system,with salmon and grilse being hooked up and down the river from Blackville to Boistown. Again this year,the sea-trout run in the Miramichi and it's famous tributary,the Cains River,has been nothing short of fantastic.Many observers say that the run of huge brook trout up these two rivers has been increasing each year,especially since restrictions have been placed on the harvesting of these special trout. I'll say it again"Conservation does Work!" I'm old enough to have seen both sides of this coin,having fished both of these rivers with my uncles and brothers back in the days when it was all hardware and live bait,with no size restrictions. Today,most sportsmen cringe whenever I mention this fact,but it was simply the times.We didn't know any better. Today I'm happy to say that we have a good balance of conservation of the resource,as well as recognizing the fact that sportsmen should be allowed to keep at least one fish for the grill or the wall.It's a win-win situation. By all accounts,the spring bear season was a very sucessful one for all sports participating in this hunt.New Brunswick is crawling with bears and each year harvest targets are not filled just because not enough hunters are participating.There is very little interst in bear hunting by local sportsmen and the outfitters are scarcely putting a dent in the population,so the numbers basically fluctuate up or down based on the bounty provided by Mother Nature. I had my son and another young lad out last night for some fishing on Salmon River.We caught a dozen or so pickerel over twenty inches,as well as white and yellow perch. We had a ball! There was lots of wildlife around with ducks and geese leading around newly hatched little ones. We also spooked a nice deer on the island when we stopped for a break. Eagles and osprey were soaring by,marsh hawks were floating over the islands looking for a snack and beavers and muskrats were zig-zagging back and forth on the quiet evening water. Ken and I really enjoy going after big pickerel.They are considered a trash fish by many of the purists in this part of the country,but on those lazy hot days of summer when the salmon and trout are laying in and won't take,the pickerel will many times attack a surface bait like torpedoe just under the surface. This is great fun for sports who want some action instead of beating the water over fish that will not take. The picture in this post is one of Ken and young Ivan R. with their catch of brook trout at the mouth of Pleasant Brook.Although Ken is a bachelor,with no children of his own,he really gets a kick out of taking young people out on an adventure and seeing the excitement of them gettin into some good hunting or fishing. We ended up with some nice trout for the pan and old Wes had a nice feed for supper. It was a day of smiles all around and memories for a lifetime. Hope to see you all out and about in our great outdoor world sometime in the near future!

The Fish are Running!

This past week there has been lots of fishing action on the rivers in this area. Salmon River and Gaspereau River have seen a nice run of brook trout and the shad and white perch are at the peak of their run up the Salmon River.On the Miramichi River,the sea-trout are starting to run and the Rocky Brook salmon are being hooked below Doaktown by some of the guides,who are fishing while waiting for the main runs to enter the river. Jamie and friend Randy-Michael were out for a couple of evenings this past week and limited out both nights. The white perch in Salmon River will school up at the mouth of the brooks and in the deep holes and the boys took full advantage of this fact.All their fish were of an average size,just right for some tasty fillets. Ken and I took two young lads from Brigg's Corner into the mouth of Pleasant Brook for a day's fish for brookies and the boy's did quite well,catching a limit of nice sized brookies for the pan. The boy's really enjoyed themselves,even though it's quite a hike in to the mouth of the brook. I took the fly rod and hooked and released about a dozen trout,while the boy's used spinning gear and worms to catch their fish. The flies are especially bad this year. Some of the old-timers say this is because of all the high water we had this year.Bug jackets or head nets are recommended if you are fishing or hunting this time of the year. The fishing is hot right now,so get out there and get in on this great fishing! Oh,and by the way,take a kid with you when you go on your adventure.Someday he or she will thank you for it.

Double Header on Bear!

Jamie and Kenny decided to try and take a bear this spring and they both managed to get their game early in the season and at about the same time. We have one bait site that has been hit by several bears and it has been quite a chore just keeping the site baited. The bear track in the previous post was taken at this site and it was of a very large bear. The bear that Kenny took over this bait is not the bear that made this track,but Ken's bear would still be considered a nice spring bear. Jamie had not killed a bear before and just wanted to take a bear,any bear. Jamie got his bear about a quarter mile from the bait site in a clover field about the same time Ken killed his. Although Jamie's bear is a small bear,it was his first and he was happy to get it. The boy's had a small celebration after the hunt and with the help of some friends ,including a couple of college age girls,they managed to nearly eat one of the bears before the skinning was done! These guy's do a great job doing up their meat and all hands agreed that the meat was fantastic. Although Ken and Jamie like taking large animals as well as anyone,they were raised up as meat hunters and they will gladly take a good eating animal when the opportunity arises. A young bear makes for some good eating,being similar in taste to pork ,but with a little gamier taste. Many times it is the handling of the game that makes the difference when it comes time to eat and Ken is an expert at handling game after the kill. I have never had a bad piece of meat that was handled by Ken and I don't expect I ever will. We still have some monster black bear hitting some of our sites,but you have to be patient with these bigger,more mature animals.They are just a little spookier than their younger counterparts,but sooner or later they will make a mistake. The boy's also got some nice brook trout and had some great fishing for white perch that have been running in Salmon River. Jamie and Randy Micheal both got their limit two nights in a row.If you have never had white perch fillets,you don't know what you are missing! They are absolutely delicious! I will post some photos of their fishing success in the next post. Ken and I are continually scouting for big Northwoods bucks and there are lots of them around from what we have been seeing this spring. Some hunters were concerned about the large snow pack we had this year,but Ken and I are happy to report that many of the big bucks in our hunting areas have survived the winter and are in good shape. I had predicted that the larger animals would fare better than the younger ones and this has proven to be true from our observations. So the outlook for all outdoor activities in south-central New Brunswick is very positive and I would encourage anyone looking for a good day or week in the bush or on the water to give me a call or send me an e-mail and Ken and I will get you out there and on the game!